Detector and Method for Estimating Data Probability in a Multi-Channel Receiver

1. A method for estimating channel data bit probabilities of a multi-channel signal received through a communication channel comprising: selecting a subset of hypothetical channel data patterns using a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation to stochastically select a plurality of hypothetical channel data patterns corresponding to dominant conditional bit probability terms, wherein the conditional bit probability terms are conditioned on an observation of the multi-channel signal and the hypothetical channel data patterns; and summing the dominant conditional bit probability terms to obtain a channel data bit probability summation.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting transition probabilities of the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation to correspond to conditional channel data bit probabilities based on a model of the communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting transition probabilities of the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation to correspond to an auxiliary probability distribution.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising scaling the conditional bit probability based on the auxiliary probability distribution.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the auxiliary distribution is a uniform distribution.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the auxiliary distribution is a based on a model of the communication channel at a signal to noise ratio below an estimated operating signal to noise ratio.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a log likelihood ratio estimate from the channel data bit probability summation.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising deriving extrinsic information from the log likelihood ratio estimate.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising providing the extrinsic information to a forward error correction decoder.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising incorporating extrinsic information from a forward error correction decoder into the channel data bit probability summation.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication channel is chosen from the group consisting of a code division multiple access channel and a multiple input multiple output channel.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising running the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation for a burn-in period prior to selecting the subset of hypothetical channel data patterns.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising initiating a plurality of parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations to stochastically select a plurality of hypothetical channel data patterns corresponding to dominant conditional bit probability terms in the channel data bit probability summation.

14. A detector for estimating channel data probabilities in a multi-channel communication system comprising: a receiver configured to receive a multi-channel signal and output an observed signal; a Gibbs sampler circuit coupled to the receiver and configured to generate stochastically selected channel data hypotheses based in part on the observed signal and a channel model; and a channel data probability estimator coupled to the receiver and coupled to the Gibbs sampler circuit and configured to estimate channel data probabilities from conditional data probabilities conditioned on the observed signal and the stochastically selected channel data hypotheses wherein, the Gibbs sampler circuit further comprises a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulator coupled to the receiver and configured to generate channel data samples from an auxiliary distribution wherein transition probabilities are based in part on the observed signal, and wherein the auxiliary distribution is based on the channel model using a signal to noise ratio below an estimated operating signal to noise ratio of the multi-channel communication system.

15. The detector of claim 14 wherein the channel data probability estimator further comprises a log likelihood ratio estimator coupled to the channel data probability estimator and configured to estimate channel data log likelihood ratios from the channel data probabilities.

16. The detector of claim 14 further comprising a decoder coupled to the channel data probability estimator and configured to exchange extrinsic information with the channel data probability estimator.

17. A device for estimating channel data bit probabilities of a multi-channel signal received through a communication channel comprising: means for selecting a subset of hypothetical channel data patterns using a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation to stochastically select a plurality of hypothetical channel data patterns corresponding to dominant conditional bit probability terms, wherein the conditional bit probability terms are conditioned on an observation of the multi-channel signal and the hypothetical channel data patterns; and means for summing the dominant conditional bit probability terms to obtain a channel data bit probability summation.

18. The device of claim 17 further comprising means for forming a log likelihood ratio estimate from the channel data bit probability summation.

19. The device of claim 17 wherein the communication channel is chosen from the group consisting of a code division multiple access channel and a multiple input multiple output channel.

20. The device of claim 17 wherein the means for selecting a subset of hypothetical channel data patterns comprises a plurality of parallel markov chain Monte Carlo simulations.